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Trump Appeals to SCOTUS to Reverse Decision on Pennsylvania’s Changes to Voting Process

Published: December 23, 2020
The Trump campaign has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of The United States (SCOTUS) to reverse the decisions made by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court regarding three cases.
Trump’s legal team has filed a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. (Image: YouTube / Screenshot)

The Trump campaign has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of The United States (SCOTUS) to reverse the decisions made by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court regarding three cases.

The appeal states that the rulings illegally changed the mail-in ballot laws of the state. It also accuses the Pennsylvania Supreme Court of violating Article II of the Constitution. That article declares that “each State shall appoint [electors for President and Vice President] in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” The lawsuit explains that this state legislature’s power is absolute and cannot be changed either by the state courts or by the state election officials.

However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court violated such rules in four cases, including the three that are mentioned in the lawsuit. Pennsylvania Supreme Court eliminated the statutory requirements with regard to the following: signature verification of mail-in ballots; the campaign’s right to challenge invalid mail-in ballots; the rights of campaign watchers to observe the mail-in ballot canvassing process; and the mandate that voters properly sign, date, and address the mail-in ballots.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decisions “resulted in counting approximately 2.6 million mail ballots in violation of the law as enacted by the Pennsylvania Legislature. According to public reports, without these protections, the resulting disqualification rate of invalid ballots was anemic — meaning over 110,000 invalid ballots were illegally counted — more than enough to have affected the outcome of the election, where the margin between the two principal candidates for President currently stands at 80,558,” the lawsuit states.  

The suit asks to vacate the appointment of electors who have already committed to Joe Biden. It requests that the Pennsylvania General Assembly selects suitable replacements. The lawsuit also asks that SCOTUS orderd Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar to respond to the filing by Dec. 23. Then the court can make a ruling before the Congress meets on Jan. 6 to count the electoral votes. 

In October, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to ban mail-in ballot drop boxes across Pennsylvania. The petition had argued that the drop boxes increased the likelihood of  fraudulent voting. However, U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan ruled in favor of keeping the drop boxes. 

Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed mail-in ballots received after Election Day to be counted as valid. (Image: Wikipedia Commons) 

“While Plaintiffs may not need to prove actual voter fraud, they must at least prove that such fraud is ‘certainly impending.’ They haven’t met that burden,” Ranjan stated in the ruling.

Texas had previously filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania and three other states with SCOTUS. SCOTUS did not even hear the case, dismissing it on the grounds that Texas had no legal standing to sue Pennsylvania. The lawsuit had argued that the Pennsylvania Secretary of State repealed mail-in ballot signature verification requirements and that the election officials in some counties prevented poll watchers from observing the counting of mail-in ballots.

A blatant constitunional violation 

According to Section IV, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution, only elected legislators of the state have the power to decide when, where, and how its citizens vote. However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots received three days after Election Day can be counted as valid, which is a blatant constitutional violation.

Trump tweeted that some “Big News” is coming out of Pennsylvania. “Very big illegal ballot drop that cannot be accounted for. Rigged Election!” President Trump’s campaign advisor Boris Epshteyn had also recently indicated that Pennsylvania would soon see more legal action.

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